College: Holy Cross graduate stopped short of the finish

Worcester resident Peter Siclari ran his first Boston Marathon last year and celebrated his “I did it!” moment with a 360-degree twirl right before he stepped over the finish line.

This year, Siclari and so many others never made it that far.

Siclari was just about to turn the corner from Hereford Street onto Boylston Monday afternoon when the second of two bombs went off near the finish line.

“The ground shook,” said Siclari, a 2010 Holy Cross graduate and an assistant men’s soccer coach at Assumption. “I heard (the explosion) — it sounded like when the Patriots score a touchdown and they let the cannons off. There was an EMS crew right at the corner of Hereford and Boylston and they were on the street within seconds. Their response time and execution was flawless. They told us, ‘The race is done. Stop where you are.’ ”

Still not knowing exactly what had happened but wanting to assist in any way possible, Siclari, who was running for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and others went back to the other end of Hereford Street to tell oncoming runners to stop.

“As little as it sounds, that’s what we could do to help out at the time,” Siclari said.

Running down Boylston Street last year was one of the most memorable moments of Siclari’s life.

“I remember the pure joy of it,” he said, “seeing the crowd, just being so happy, having such a sense of accomplishment.”

Monday, the usual scene of jubilation turned to one of horror and disbelief quickly. Shrapnel, debris and blood marked the spots where seconds earlier so many stood to cheer on the finishers.

“I just feel bad for all those people that couldn’t experience that because of such a senseless act,” Siclari said.

Siclari eventually found his friends in the crowd — they were watching from the steps of the Capital Grille on Boylston Street — and they all made their way to another friend’s house in Beacon Hill. Siclari said he wasn’t scared in the moment because, again, he wasn’t sure what had happened.

“My first instinct when we were stopped and the police said the race was over was, ‘What can we do? How can we help?’ ” Siclari said. “That was the response of almost every single runner. That’s really the spirit of the marathon. You run the marathon for yourself, but you run it for the person next to you. You encourage and motivate the person next to you. Even in a time of crisis like Monday it was still about looking out for the person next to you.”

Clark senior Kayla Reeves of Shirley watched the finish of Monday’s Boston Marathon from the 30th floor of the Copley Marriott.

Patriots’ Day is a big tradition in her family and Reeves, a member of Clark’s cross-country team, saw her dad and aunt finish and return safely to the hotel about one hour before the explosions.

“I heard the first boom,” Reeves said, “and went to the window and saw smoke. I saw people running away. I heard the second boom, saw more smoke and chaos below.”

The hotel was in lockdown, but Reeves and her family eventually were allowed to leave through a back door. They walked to the Broadway MBTA stop in South Boston to take the train back to the Alewife station, where they left the car.

“Walking the streets of Boston was eerie,” Reeves said. “There were ambulances, cops, FBI — not what you expect to see on Marathon Monday, on Patriots’ Day in Boston.

“It’s Boston,” Reeves said. “It’s the Boston Marathon. I just feel like everybody has some sort of connection to the event. It means so much to everybody. People are grieving. You hear what people are going through. Everybody’s been affected by this differently.”

Reeves stayed at her parents’ home Monday night before returning to campus Tuesday.

“There was still a lot of uncertainty,” Reeves said, “but it was great to be home and out of the city. There was just this sense of tension, this heavy feeling.”

Anthony Gingerelli starred on every baseball team — Tris Speaker Little League, Burncoat Babe Ruth, Burncoat High, Shrewsbury American Legion — he ever played for, so when he tried out for and didn’t make Bucknell’s squad last year as a freshman, he was disappointed to say the least.

“Up to that point in time, I never quite fell short in baseball,” Gingerelli said.

He still enjoyed his first year at Bucknell, playing for the club team, meeting a lot of new friends and getting off to a good start academically, and when the beginning of his sophomore year rolled around, his dad, Michael, encouraged him to give the baseball team another crack.

“He’s kind of embedded the phrase ‘Never give up’ in me,” Gingerelli said, “so I said why not? I’ll give it one last shot.”

Bison coach Scott Heather liked what he saw, Gingerelli made the team as a walk-on, and through 35 games, he ranks second on the team with a .314 batting average.

“Our coach gave me a chance and I was fortunate and it’s been awesome ever since,” Gingerelli said.

Gingerelli, who was a T&G Division 1 all-star as a senior at Burncoat, had opportunities to play baseball at Assumption and Bentley, among other colleges, but won a four-year academic scholarship to Bucknell through the Posse Foundation.

He is majoring in management and is thinking of taking on a second major in political science.

After being on the bench for Bucknell’s first seven games of the season, Gingerelli got his first at-bat against Virginia during the team’s Florida trip.

“It was the bottom of the ninth, two outs, a blowout game,” Gingerelli said, “and just giving guys who came along for the trip their chance. That first at-bat, I kind of smoked the ball and got a triple.

“I guess that opened a few eyes that I can swing the bat a little bit,” Gingerelli said.

Gingerelli has started 20 games as the designated hitter or in the outfield. He has 2 doubles, 7 RBIs and 8 runs.

“I’m just staying with it,” Gingerelli said, “and doing everything I’ve been doing since I was 5, just playing baseball.”

Whenever Gingerelli runs onto Bucknell’s Depew Field, across the plate or into the dugout, he thinks of his mom, Lisa, who was his No. 1 fan.

Lisa passed away in 2009 at age 47 after a three-year battle with cancer.

“With baseball and holding my own academically, the only vision I get is the big smile on her face looking down on me,” Gingerelli said. “That’s really, really important to me — to sense that. It’s kind of my drive in everything I do.”

Late last month, Bucknell played a pair of doubleheaders at Holy Cross, which was a thrill for Gingerelli, his dad and his sisters, Gina, Nikki and Kristen, as well as his aunts, uncles and cousins, who all made for a nice cheering section at Fitton Field.

Sharing the moment with his dad seemed especially gratifying for Gingerelli.

“My dad,” Gingerelli said, “to say he’s the world to me is an understatement. He’s my everything. That’s generic, but I’m fortunate enough for that to be very, very accurate. I talk to him when something good happens, when something bad happens. I give him a call on an average Tuesday. He’s there for me. He keeps things honest with me and puts things in perspective for me. He’s my go-to guy to say the least.”